Document Verifications and Risk Analysis: A Leverage for Businesses against Fraud

Over the years, identity fraud and cybercrimes have grown immeasurably. This is largely due to the proliferation of the use of the internet and an increasingly tech-savvy consumer market. Automated methods like document verification and risk analysis, are now being adopted across the board to fight fraud. Criminals and fraudsters have come up with smarter ways to defraud the systems installed to keep them out. According to Forbes, an average business in the US faces a cyber attack four million times in a year. The figure is even worse for banks - 1 billion times a year. Cybercriminals these days are smart and leverage the vulnerabilities in a system deploy social engineering and data breaching tactics to commit fraud. Thus there is a dire need to implement shrewd and fast fraud prevention solutions.

Fraud Statistics

Online fraud has detrimental costs to a business. It takes over 2.17 per cent in revenues for online retailers and 2.39 per cent for the financial sector. Accordingly, businesses have been trying their best to implement procedures that are proactive rather than reactive to fraud. Companies realise the fact that the actual cost of fraud is far more of what it would take to implement anti-fraud solutions. Thus the overall spending on fraud prevention and detection solutions is supposed to rise in the coming years. Methods like document verifications and risk analysis are some of the few effective methods for the prevention of fraud online.

Document Verification

Businesses, particularly online merchants, have always found it difficult to verify their customers’ identities. It is extremely easy for fraudsters to obtain someone’s personal information to purchase a product online or to even open a bank account to gain financial benefits. Manual verifications take an inconveniently long time and have a higher chance for errors. Thus, digital identity verifications become important for businesses and banks. Online ID checks involve verification of a customer’s ID documents by scanning them through a web camera. The software performs document verification in real time through OCR or Optical Character Recognition. All details are then authenticated by the software for any errors or forgeries. Verifying the identity of a customer through online identity checks immensely reduce the chances of identity fraud and cyber crimes and can enable businesses to save thousands if not millions in dollars in losses.

Risk Analysis

Another option for fraud prevention and detection is risk analysis software. Such software solutions are now available for assimilating to a business’s or banks existing interface. Risk analytic software monitors a customer’s transactions and online activity. Based on certain protocols and algorithms the software analyses the risk a customer poses to a business’s operations. It then generates regular risk reports to the company’s management to take the appropriate action.

Automated methods like document verification in real time and risk analysis software can immensely reduce the risk for identity fraud and cybercrime. They facilitate businesses in implementing effective and timely fraud detection measures.